Sample Designs

This paddle was presented to Max Finkelstein, recipient of the 2009 Bill Mason Award at the Canadian Heritage Rivers Conference.

A blank paddle is intimidating and this one for Max left me blank as a doorknob!
After a few months and many (!) false starts....I decided to just draw right on the paddle to see what would come.
To trust my hand and intuition.
The song 'Blackbird' kept running through my mind, as did legends, stories and memories of raven the trickster, the ingenious crow, the dove bringing an olive branch to Noah, how the loon got its necklace, the dove of peace, nightingales and whippoorwills singing us to sleep, the grace of herons in flight, hawks soaring, and ....oh yes..... geese flying north in incredible migrations at night!
This bird arrived on the paddle, flying north in the moonlight. Like any migration, it is flying towards hope.

The stone is one I picked up, as one does, on a canoe trip....a totem of memories and beauty and gratitude and hope.

I am a child of the Canadian Shield, with memories steeped in images of rocks and pine trees along the waters edge. This is 'home' to me.

On canoe trips, Dad would tell me to look down the lake for the furthest point of land that I could see. That was our goal. Eyes focused on that distant point, I would lose myself in the trance of paddling. That point stayed far off for a long time. But each stroke brought us closer until the goal was attained. After a brief pause, Dad would say "Look down the lake…..see that point way up
ahead? That's where we're going."

Another recipient of the Canadian Rivers Conference: Bill Mason Award: Grandfather William Commanda is a marvelous man, besides being a
famous birchbark canoe builder and environmentalist, Grandfather is promoting peace amongst all peoples. This design is inspired by
petroglyphs and pictographs of canoes and animals honouring the great heritage of rock artists through the millenium and Grandfather's dream of rivers flowing free to the sea again.

When Darren's dad turned 75, the whole family requested this design to
represent a cabin he had built in the wilderness. A very special spot
for fishing and family gatherings.
Everyone's name had to be on the paddle

My friend Judy is an amazing (!) artist and crafts woman. She spins, weaves, knits, makes birch bark canoes, tans hides….. and does gorgeous beadwork on her handmade moccasins and mukluks. Take a look at her work:http://www.jumaka.com/moccasins

To honour her beadwork and aboriginal designs – this design is inspired by a Naskapi painted coat (Northern Quebec) .

This paddle was a retirement gift for Charles, a biologist who worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service for many years. His colleagues wanted to represent his long and prolific career.

The design was to show species he had studied as well as his contributions to numerous projects, committees and publications. Along with a very tight deadline, they supplied me with pictures, logo's, manuscripts, books, web sites and a postage stamp - all fruits of his labour.

Marianne's father commissioned this paddle in honour of her graduation. In reviewing my reference books she found that pictographs and petroglyphs from the southwest 'spoke' to her. Marianne did some initial sketches and the design evolved to represent her upcoming canoe journey across Canada. The design winds around the shaft and blade to provide visual surprises as the paddle is turned. The spirals are said to mean 'migration'. The other 'glyphs' are animals, tracks, personal qualities, weather, phases of the moon, camp fire circles, etc - reminiscent of events on a canoe voyage.

Doug B of Ottawa brought me a 20 foot kayak deck to embellish with creatures from the sea. This was fun - a pyrographer's dream canvas! Narwhales, whales, walrus, seals, belugas and porpoises swim from bow to stern. Thanks to my biologist friends for the loan of reference books on these wonderful animals. Doug has recently launched his beautiful craft.